Budget optimization tool for office building renovation projects -

Abstract

Recent studies acknowledge the link between Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and employees‘ overall satisfaction at work, and in turn, productivity. This link led practitioners to include IEQ factors (e.g., thermal comfort, air quality, etc.) in green building standards such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM). The ultimate goal of this paper is to propose and validate a quantitative method to estimate employee productivity by assessing the level of occupants‘ IEQ satisfaction in office buildings. The first step in understanding this complex relation requires an understanding of the relationship between IEQ and productivity. This is achieved through a survey of corporate employees, which provides a quantitative correlation between the level of IEQ in an office setting and the overall level of satisfaction with the workplace. The latter is, in turn, correlated with the level of occupant performance and productive time. However, and by analyzing the attained results, it was found that there is yet another factor that affects 3 the level of productive time besides IEQ satisfaction; that being longevity at the workplace. profiles. Drives behind office buildings’ renovation projects can vary widely depending on the type and purpose of the project; workplace expansion, occupants’ well-being and satisfaction improvement, infrastructure upgrade, etc. However, and no matter what target lies behind the renovation project, one factor will inevitably be affected: the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) at the workplace. As noted by several recent studies, the IEQ conditions significantly affect the level of occupants’ satisfaction with their workplace, which, in turn, significantly affects their level of productivity. The target of this paper is to propose a capital budgeting tool that optimizes budget allocation for renovation projects of office buildings in a way to maximize the expected in